Deborah Raney

Deborah Raney’s first novel, A Vow to Cherish, was awarded a Silver Angel from Excellence in Media and inspired the acclaimed World Wide Pictures film of the same title. Since then her books have won the RITA Award, the HOLT Medallion, and the National Readers’ Choice Award. Raney was also a finalist for the Christy Award. She and her husband, artist Ken Raney, make their home in their native Kansas.

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My Life in 8 Words

Author Revealed

Q. What is your motto or maxim?

A. "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." ~Martyred missionary Jim Elliot

Q. What 3 personal qualities are most important to you?

A. Honesty, loyalty and selflessness.

Q. What is your favorite occupation, when you’re not writing?

A. Reading. But I also love working in our flower gardens with my husband.

Q. What are your most overused words or phrases?

A. A few years ago I read one of my books aloud to my then 13-year-old daughter. We got the giggles as my hero winked every third page. I also have to be careful my heroines don't rake a hand through their hair more than once or twice per book.

Q. How would you describe perfect happiness?

A. I think perfect happiness has everything to do with learning to be content with what I have. With comparing myself to those who have less and feeling blessed, rather than looking across the fence and bemoaning what I don't have.

Author Interviews

A Conversation with Deborah Raney

A Conversation with Deborah Raney, author of Face of the Earth

1. What inspired you to write The Face of the Earth? Was it a struggle to keep the story from becoming too sad?

I knew from the beginning that I didn’t want the sadness of the situation to be oppressive. And that was a challenge, especially from the perspective of Jill’s children. But in real life, even in the midst of tragedies like this, life goes on, and there is beauty, and...

Author Voices

January 24, 2011

While I love to read historical novels, I've only written one, a novella. (Had it been a full-length historical, I'd still be asking for extensions on my deadline!) The only thing that experience accomplished was to convince me I'd best stick to writing contemporary. Why? Oh, let me count the ways...

My first sentence of my first draft of "Circle of Blessings"––set in 1864 in the Dakota Territory––read something like this:

Heather Bradford grabbed her handbag from the credenza in the parlor and stepped out onto the back deck, panning the horizon.

December 18, 2009

A recipe that's become a Christmas tradition in my family is Jewel Cookies. Some might think the recipe gets its name from the colorful egg yolk paint or frosting, but in fact, these cookies are named after a sweet neighbor from my childhood (to whom I dedicated my novel A Nest of Sparrows). Though Jewel and her husband, Don, had no children of their own, Jewel used to invite all the kids from our little farming community to "paint" and decorate cookies at her farmhouse every Christmas. After Don and Jewel moved into town, my sister and her family moved into their farmhouse, and my sister continued the tradition for her children and mine. Jewel often...
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